Integrating Aerial Electric Vehicles for Sustainable Agriculture and to Optimize the Overhead Cost of Farming

Abstract

India is a country whose roots are buried deep in agriculture. The livelihood of about 58% of the population depends on farming. Yet technological progress in the country’s agricultural practices is lacking. The growing technology and increased demand for agriculture calls for the incorporation of technology into sustainable agriculture. The proposed work, therefore aimed at building a drone to serve this purpose. The rapid growth of the Electric Vehicle (EV) market and India’s aim to shift to the complete use of EVs by the year 2023 demand a paradigm shift in the agriculture sector. The use of aerial electric vehicles would be an impeccable execution of EVs in agriculture, serving a vast set of functions. The proposed work focuses on one specific application: remote spraying of pesticides in an efficient way so that the overhead costs of farming are reduced. The harmful effects of exposure to pesticides are eminent. Farmers who take it upon themselves to spray these pesticides are at risk of contracting a wide range of health adversities and deadly chronic diseases. As a solution to this imminent need, it is proposed to design a drone to spray pesticides according to the requirement, as directed by the farmer. The Agriculture Drone has a hexagonal structure controlled using BLDC motors and Electronic Speed Controllers (ESCs). For flight control, Pixhawk 2.4.6 is used. It is equipped with a GPS module that can track the location of the drone and plan its mission. The drone operates on autopilot and requires no manual control for flight. Specific coordinates are given to the Drone so that it moves along the given coordinates for its flight using the software ‘Mission Planner.’ The designed drone has a removable tank for the storage of pesticides, which is placed under the landing gear. The tank has a spraying system that operates on the instructions of the farmer, which are given to the drone using a Radio transmitter.